"Do not make any noise," whispered their mother, her voice barely audible over the pounding of Lucio's heart.
Lucio could hear strange footsteps echoing ominously throughout their house. His mother's hands trembled as she held him and his little brother tightly, her grip almost painfully firm. The three of them huddled in the small bathroom, feeling the cold tiles pressing against their bare feet.
Earlier, he and his brother had watched in confusion as their parents hastily packed things into luggage, their movements frantic and desperate. When they heard their father announce the arrival of men in black, he'd shoved them toward the bathroom, his eyes wild with fear. "Hide!" he'd ordered, his tone allowing no argument.
"Who are they, Mother?" eight-year-old Lucio Hernandez asked in a hushed, quivering tone.
"Shh! Keep quiet. They must not find us here, or they will kill us," his mother replied, her voice barely a whisper and trembling with terror.
"But what about Father? Shouldn't we tell him to hide with us?"
"Lower your voice, Lucio. Your father is going to protect us. And I will keep you safe too," she said, her voice breaking as she kissed them with shuddering lips, tears streaming down her cheeks.
"What's going to happen to us, Mother?" Lucio whimpered, clutching his mother's skirt alongside his brother in desperation.
Before she could answer, a loud knock on the door shattered the fragile silence, halting their whispered conversation. Muffled voices and violent shouts from unknown men followed. The sound of glass shattering and furniture crashing filled the house, each crash making them flinch. Lucio's mother tightened her grip, her breath coming in shallow, fearful gasps. She pressed her forehead to Lucio's, her eyes wide with dread. "We have to stay quiet," she mouthed, her lips barely moving. Lucio nodded, swallowing hard, his throat dry with fear. He clung to his mother and brother, his small body shaking as chaos continued outside their hiding place. Every sound felt louder than the last, each moment stretched into a perpetuity of horror.
"Please, I beg of you… do not hurt my family!"
It was his father's voice, his terror clear in every desperate word.
"Give us back the money and the key!" another voice demanded, harsh and unyielding.
Lucio carefully moved and peered through the small hole in the bathroom door.
From his hiding spot, he saw several armed men, dressed in black, surrounding his father, who was kneeling on the floor. The once-peaceful living room was now a scene of utter chaos, tables broken into pieces, shattered china scattered across the floor like the aftermath of a storm. His little brother grew increasingly restless. "Please, little one, be still," their mother whispered, covering the mouth of her five-year-old with a trembling hand.
Lucio continued to watch the terrifying scene. He didn't understand why the men had tied his father's hands. Blood oozed from a gash on his father's forehead, the result of brutal blows inflicted by the men in black. Young Lucio tried to hold back his tears as he began to grasp the gravity of their danger.
"Where is the money?" roared the large man holding his father down. "And give us back the fucking key!"
Another groan escaped his father as they kicked him again. One of them punched his stomach, forcing him to cough up blood.
"The brotherhood! The Dragon Brotherhood has them..." his father gasped, struggling to speak through the pain.
"You swore loyalty to the Alphas, and yet you sided with the Dragons," one of the men spat, his voice thick with betrayal and anger.
"I had no choice!"
Lucio covered his ears as loud thuds and his father's screams filled the air. Then a deafening gunshot tore through the night, startling the children and making their mother cry out in silent agony. In an instant, Lucio's brother erupted into a loud wail; his mother's attempts to quiet him failed.
The men heard the noise. Before they could react, the bathroom door flew open, and two men began dragging them away.
"No... please, do not hurt the children!" his mother screamed.
They dragged her by the hair, forcing her to look at her dead husband. She could only scream in horror, her heart breaking as she saw the lifeless body of the man she loved.
"Think you can hide, huh?" the gigantic man taunted, slapping Lucio's face with a nerve-wracking force. "And as for you, you little slut! Come here—"
The men laughed cruelly, tossing her around like a rag doll. Lucio and his brother were thrown against the wall, but the little one managed to crawl to their father's body, clutching his shirt in desperate confusion with his small hands.
"Tie that whore!" commanded the man who seemed to be leading the group.
"W-what are you going to do to my mother?" Lucio shouted, his voice cracking with fear and anger. "Stop it!"
But the men only laughed at his helpless screams. "You watch, kid..." one of them sneered. "You ought to learn how to use that little birdy between your legs!"
"Please... please," their mother pleaded, her voice breaking. "Have mercy. Spare the children!" But the men were unmoved. They tied her hands above her head, cruelly pulling down her pants and underwear. Lucio watched in horror as his mother squirmed and screamed, her cries piercing the air. Unable to bear the scene, Lucio ran to his brother, who was still clinging to their father's lifeless body.
Covering his brother's eyes, Lucio closed his own, trying to block out the nightmare unfolding before them.
"This is what you get when you mess with the Alphas... you do not get mercy!" one of the men shouted, forcing them to watch in agony.
Lucio woke from the dream, stumbling as he wiped large beads of sweat from his forehead. The same nightmare had haunted him repeatedly for the past thirty-six years, fueling his anger against the Alphas. The dream was a relentless reminder of his thirst for revenge. His hunger for the brotherhood's downfall kept him from moving on, like a dark fire that refused to die inside him.
Lucio stood up, clenching his fists. He walked to a set of drawers and pulled out a small box. Inside, a golden key lay nestled among intricate designs. His anger flared as he stared at the shiny item. Glancing up, he saw his reflection in the mirror, the ugly scar across his face—an enduring reminder of what the Alphas had done to him and his family.
His hands tightened around the box as he remembered how his father was flogged to death, how those bastards took turns raping his mother, even his precious little brother shot in the head without hesitation. It was a miracle he'd escaped that fateful night. Now, he vowed that he wouldn't stop until the Alpha Brotherhood burned to the ground.